Blessing but No Bow.” I’M a Believer in the Seasons of Life, and One of the Things I Permit to You Is That It Is a Wonderful Blessing When a Tough Season Ends
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Dustin Blumer Sermon 468 - Job 42 Blessing, but no Bow Have you ever been in a situation that was complicated? Life is complicated right? Consider people. People are complicated. You may have heard that Aretha Franklin passed this week. And I was reading a little about the Queen of soul’s life, and it is…complicated. Her father growing up was a radio star in Detroit, but not a good example. Her mom left at age 5 after the father tore the family apart. At age 15 she had two children by unnamed fathers, but she left them in Detroit to pursue a career in New York. She married a man named Ted White who was abusive and was said to be a pimp who funded her career early on through that work. Seemingly she lived out the song “Chain of fools.” But what talent as she got in front of microphone or piano. And at the same time had powerful confessions of Christ. She released a album called One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism which included renditions of Amazing Grace, and Oh Happy Day. But still she struggled with depression, anxiety, was known for heavy drinking. I could go on about her story but frankly I’m reminded - that a right standing with God does not come from our spotless record. I’m not going to stand before God and claim my goodness. No a right standing comes from Jesus. I’m going to stand before God and say, “I got it wrong, but I believe Jesus got it right for me, I simply hold all my hope in him.” But I bring up Aretha, because yes people are complicated aren’t they? Do you know any complicated people? Human beings are a concoction of history, hormones, and current happenstance. And complicated people lead to complicated circumstances. I was hearing about a possible stall in another release of the Guardians of the Galaxy. The writer/director James Gunn was fired over a series of tweets from his past. Chris Pratt and his co-stars had an official statement, but considers it all complicated. But honestly I do need to deflect to other people and other circumstances because I believe you know your own people and your own circumstances that confirm how complicated life really is. Life is way too complicated for us to completely understand it all. In other words people and circumstances don’t fit into neat boxes with bows. And if anyone would give us an amen, I think it would be Job. He’s like I’m in the midst of a situation that is complicated. I’m surrounded by people who are complicated. And honestly I do not understand it all. There’s no box and there’s now bow. One of my favorite illustrations of what life is like on earth is that of living behind the weaver’s loom of a tapestry. All we see is the knots and the snarls and the mess. We have an idea there is an artist creating something, but we do not see it. So it is with Job and so it is with us. And some of you are saying pastor you know I do believe that life is complicated. You didn’t have to convince me - so why are you bringing this up? I guess it’s because we this whole summer have been wrestling with the why of suffering. Why do I go through things? Why God did you allow this or that to happen in my life? And Job would tell us I asked for a why and I never got it. God showed up and while I was looking for an explanation, he just gave me an escape to how much high above he stood. No box, no bow. So for us. If we honestly wrestle with the complicated, we might accept there are no easy answers. So what are we left with? During this series I’ve been listening to a Pastor Tim Keller, and he gave an illustration I’d like to permit to you. He was talking about sheep herding on the hills of England. I like this already ‘cause in the church God refers to us as sheep and He is the Great Shepherd. And because of the bugs that will literally eat the sheep alive, every year the sheep have to be dunked head to hoof in antiseptic. And it can be quite a job to get the sheep in this, obviously they don’t like having their whole bodies and their heads dunked. To give you a picture of what this might look like I found a video of people actually doing this. So I permit to you this sheep dunking in antiseptic. There it is, a much better and kinder way than this other video I saw. But consider the position of the sheep herder. Are they going to be able to explain see - I have to dunk, if I don’t get your head down you are going to be eaten alive. You don’t want that. If you try to explain that to a sheep I believe you’re wasting your time. The sheep would never understand and yet the shepherd does it for the sheeps good. And so we find ourselves in the same position when it comes to God and what he is doing in the midst of our suffering. “God I don’t like this.” His response? Trust me. And in the space between what God is doing, and situations too complicated for us to understand is the need for trust. So let’s turn to the message where we get trust from. Faith comes from hearing the message and the message is the Word of Christ. We believe this story of Job recorded in the Bible is not just ancient literature or a good historical account. We believe it is actually the voice of God to us and to others in every age who wrestle with suffering. Because we are concluding the study today a quick review of what we learned. While we do not get the why of suffering we have learned. 1) God is worthy of love even apart from the blessings he bestows. Job taught us when God gives or even when he takes away - God is worthy of praise. Suffering allows us to praise him for who he is rather than what he gives. 2) God may permit suffering as a means of purifying and strengthening the soul in godliness. How many of us can testify it was actually through the fire of an ordeal that we got stronger. And there is beauty that can be forged from misery. The cross of Jesus testifies to that. And finally, 3) God’s thoughts and ways are moved by considerations too vast for the puny mind of man to comprehend. This is where we have been dwelling for weeks. We’ve said being before God is like being an astronaut in space. Vulnerable overwhelmed by beauty and power. So it is to stand before a God way more beautiful and powerful than we can imagine. And today we conclude. We have Job’s response to God’s appearance, and we also have the blessing of God bestowed on Job. I think it’s going to be a powerful conversation and may it encourage our hearts. Let’s turn there now reading from the very last chapter the conclusion. There it is turn to the person next to you and say, “There is blessing but no bow.” I’m a believer in the seasons of life, and one of the things I permit to you is that it is a wonderful blessing when a tough season ends. Maybe it ended with a different job, it ended because health was restored, the tough season ended because the bill got paid or the circumstance changed. For me I remember when Kat and I were engaged. We got engaged when I was a SR in college, and she was a junior. And the next year we would be apart. She was at MLC and I was at Seminary. I tried to fill my life with busyness, so not only was I full time Seminary student, but I as also working 29 hours a week as a bank teller. It was a lot. And as much as I worked and tried to make the time go fast - it was good when the season ended. And the week after she graduated we got married. That ushered in a new season. What we find in the last chapter of Job is the end of a tough season. It’s as if Job was stuck in the middle of the night waiting for the sun to come, and finally the dawn breaks. What do we hear in v.10-11, “10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. 11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.” Wow. Like that the season of sorrow ends. God restores his fortunes. I was reading Charles Swindoll’s commentary on these verses and he says, “• Suddenly the boils are gone, leaving no scars. • Suddenly the fever breaks as a cool breeze refreshes him.